It's official - Dems win House

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

Looks like the Democrats are well on their way to winning the House.  The question now is how large their majority will be.  I can honestly say I'm surprised.  This is the first time in my memory that the pre-election polls got it right.

Senate stays Republican by 2 or 3 votes.

[cosine]

It's not really official yet, but I pretty sure you're right.

The best thing I can imagine happening is that there is so much partisan in-fighting that political gridlock is the result. Having nothing happen is better than having the wrong things happen.





The only thing going through my mind right now: What the heck happened?

I'm not an optimist anymore. I'm a pretty annoyed/disappointed conservative. I sure hope the Democrats don't injure this country over to badly.

Being a newbie to the RKBA and the world of firearms, I'm going to have to pay close attention to the winds of the anti-gunners in planning my initial purchases.



Hmm, how's an AR-15 for one's first rifle? (assuming new gun bans get brought up and assuming that they would affect firearms like those)

[Guest]

The only thing going through my mind right now: What the heck happened?

I voted Libertarian this year (didnt really matter in my state anyways), I'll be damned if I will cast a vote for a person who voted for the Patriot Act.

[cosine]

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/11/images/20061105-1_d-0113-1-697v.jpg

Yep.

[AJ Dual]

As bad as it is, it looks as though the Republicans will probably hang onto the senate. And the "shot across the bow" factor will be enough to make the Republicans play truer to their roots, and if it was inevitable, it would be better now, than an even bigger loss in '08.

If the Republicans want to get serious, they can put together a clear and concise "Contract With America" plan that worked so famously well in '94.

[Cosmoline]

Well the bullet's close enough to give the GOP a serious wake-up call and oust the open borders, nation-building jerks who've been running the show.  Rummy is probably out, and GW is a full fledged lame duck.  Plus, for all the sound and fury the Dems aren't going to be able to accomplish squat.  They had to pull hard to the center in a lot of these races to win, and this isn't a national seal of approval on any wild-eyed Democratic revolution.  We'll have a nicely gridlocked federal government for two years, then hopefully things will look better in '08. 

[Perd Hapley]

If by "George Bush happened" you mean that the Republican Party has been afraid to go for real success politically, domestically, and in foreign affairs by embracing real conservative/libertarian candidates and positions, I'd agree.

Rummy is probably out,

Why do you say that?

[Cosmoline]

He could stay, but my expectation is he will be offered up as a blood sacrifice at some point in the next few months as a way of moving swing votes on some issue.  He's almost universally hated by everyone except his boss. 

[Antibubba]

Two years of the Evil Party reminding Americans why they were booted out in the first place?  Not so bad, I think.

Cosine, gridlock is GOOD.  Remember, the most efficient governments are totalitarian.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

The really interesting part is which particular politicians won and which lost.  Chafee, DeWine, and Santorum, the senators who lost their seats, were RINOs.  The Republicans who lost in the House tended to be the same.  The Democrats who picked up seats in the House tended to run as conservatives.

So, the old adage is proven correct once again:  you win elections by moving to the right.  The Democrats moved right, and they won.  The Republicans moved left, and they lost.

Let us hope that the message is heard, by both Republicans AND Democrats.  Maybe the Republicans can learn from their error this time around, and runs some even more conservative candidates against the conservative Dems who beat them this time.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

And for your gut-wrenching moment of the night...

[caseydog]

Santorum was a RINO ? Wow that must have been redefined while I was sleeping  Now if our Senator Specter(R) had lost to Casey it would have been a net gain for conservatives .

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

Santorum was a RINO ? Wow that must have been redefined while I was sleeping  Now if our Senator Specter(R) had lost to Casey it would have been a net gain for conservatives .

Ooops.  You're right.  I slipped up when I called Santorum a RINO.  He is no such thing.

[Cosmoline]

All in all, the Dems didn't win this.  The GOP LOST it.  They forgot their roots and abandoned the Reagan Revolution while drunk on power and victory.  The party needs to get back to small government, sensible foreign policy, and get rid of the little men with big plans.  

[RadioFreeSeaLab]

Gridlock reigns supreme! 

[AmbulanceDriver]

So here's the way I see things happening.

Aside from my local politics (which frankly make me want to puke right now....  literally) I think this could be a possible positive, IF the conservative base and the conservatives in politics actually wake up.  As has been said, this was a shot across the bow that hopefully grazed the captain's nose.  But, here's what I think we'll see...

That border fence that was approved???  Forget funding for it.   Any possible pro-gun legislation?  Fuggetaboutit.  At best, we'll have political gridlock between the House and Senate.  At worst, expect to see some type of AWB brought back.  (remember, Bush has publicly stated he isn't opposed to an AWB)

Ugh.   National politics are making me nauseated as well.....

[280plus]

Brush up on your Arabic...

 

[El Tejon]

280, don't you mean "brush up on your tax code."  Oh, man, I'm I going to take it in the wallet next year.

Cosmo, you nailed it.

[Ron]

Why does a herd of cattle stampede? No reason, they just want "change".

[Dannyboy]

So, uh, how about the Senate?  Two seats left and the Dems are up in both.  Montana is at 96% with Tester up by just over a k and VA is at 100% with Webb up by almost 8k.  Doesn't look good for the Republicans, or the country, for that matter.

[280plus]

280, don't you mean "brush up on your tax code."  Oh, man, I'm I going to take it in the wallet next year.

Cosmo, you nailed it.

Yea that too... 

And Cosmo DID nail it.

Well, at least I've got stuff they'll have to grandfather into their new AWB when it comes around. I gotta get more ammo though. Geez, I was watching the local results scroll on the bottom of the TV screen and it was just one Dem after another. And MY guy Rob Simmons is 50/50 with his opponent showing about 300 more votes than him. We split pretty much exactly 50/50 in this district. To me that's amazing. Meanwhile Lieberman gets 50% of the votes cast Lamont 40% and Schlesinger getting the other 10% . So pretty much half of us wanted Joe out and the other half wanted him to stay. Now we wait and see what comes next I guess. 

[lumpy]

So, uh, how about the Senate?  Two seats left and the Dems are up in both.  Montana is at 96% with Tester up by just over a k and VA is at 100% with Webb up by almost 8k.  Doesn't look good for the Republicans, or the country, for that matter.

AP called the senate for the dems a little bit ago... gave Virginia to Webb...

[Iain]

Cosmo did nail it, but it's an old cliche to say that oppositions don't win elections, governments lose them.